


Song of Hope

by Straight_Outta_Hobbiton



Category: Bleach, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, I'm Sorry, Implied Dimension-Hopping, M/M, implied PTSD, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 14:33:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14792303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Straight_Outta_Hobbiton/pseuds/Straight_Outta_Hobbiton
Summary: At least there's hope, right? Right?As for daemon explanations:Zangetsu the Raven: Ravens are symbols of intelligence, due to their use of natural tools. They are playful, communicative, and can sometimes be considered rather vicious when vexed. They are also symbols of prophecy and destiny, considered crafty keepers of wisdom— but in the same breath, are known to be terrible secret-keepers. They are scavengers, finding use for things thrown away by others.Ossan the Irish Wolfhound: Once considered ‘the bane of the wolf pack', the Irish Wolfhound is described as having "great size and commanding appearance." He is the tallest of dogs, but not the heaviest. When full grown, a male Irish Wolfhound looms over other dogs, standing at least 32 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds. They are symbols of loyalty, protection, intelligence, obedience, community, resourcefulness, and communication.Benihime the Mink: Minks are joyful, playful, and know how to balance that with fighting for a just cause. They have a keen sense of awareness, and knowledge of how to navigate through emotional waters. They aid in understanding dreams, visions, and hidden knowledge.





	Song of Hope

“So… This is it? We’re not… We can’t be shinigami, anymore?”

 

“Not in the traditional sense. Our zanpakuto… They can’t be both.” Kisuke swallows hard, bent over his microscope with his elbows on the table. “We have to decide.”

 

Ichigo bites his lip. He’s sitting, cross-legged, on the floor of Kisuke’s private labs. His fingers are fisted in the soft gray fur of the irish wolfhound pressed against his side. Perched on his shoulder is a raven, unusually still and silent.

 

“We— I can’t,” he murmurs. “I’ve gotten used to having them with me. I can’t— they can’t just be in my head anymore, Kisuke. They  _ can’t _ .”

 

“Do you think it’s different for me?” The blond asks, turning to the younger man. Around his neck, a scarf of sleek, black fur shines in the harsh light of the lab. “I’ve grown accustomed to Benihime’s company. I don’t think—“ he stops, swallowing hard. “I don’t think I could bear to be parted in such a… Physical way.”

 

“I don’t want ta go back in,” pipes up the raven, wings twitching. “It’s easier ta keep an eye on ya out here.”

 

“We’re closer to you,” Benihime agrees, body shifting as her head slides up past Kisuke’s ear to eye the boy and his spirits. “You can always hear us, this way.”

 

Ichigo sighs softly.

 

“Ossan… What do you think?”

 

The wolfhound sets his chin on Ichigo’s knee, dark eyes calm and level.

 

“We are with you, regardless of your choice,” he rumbles. “It does not matter to me.”

 

The orangette frowns, brow furrowing.

 

“Kisuke,” he starts after a moment, eyes on the floor. “What do you choose?”

 

The blond pinches his lips, fingers going to the mink loosely draped around his shoulders.

 

“Benihime is staying as she is,” he says after a moment. “She is happy, and I… am content.” A small smile crosses his face. “It’s not like I’m powerless. It’s not like... I am not without her, after all.”

 

“No, not at all.” Ichigo remembers what it was like when they… when they were gone. “It’s nothing like that.”

 

Kisuke hesitates, then goes to sit on the sterile white tile.

 

“I can teach you kido,” he offers quietly. “We’ve run the tests. We know our reiatsu was untouched. We have shunpo. We have kido. Besides… I know a few things."

 

Ichigo huffs a laugh.

 

“Are you offering to teach me Super Secret Spy Stuff?” he asks. “Because if you are, I’m going to accept.”

 

The blond quirks a smile.

 

“Sui Feng’s going to hate you,” he informs his student.

 

Ichigo shrugs.

 

“She hates me anyway,” he points out, ignoring the way Benihime hops down from Kisuke’s shoulders towards Ossan. “Only difference will be I might stand a chance against her.”

 

“That might take a few centuries,” the shopkeeper warns, but the tension in his shoulders is gone, now. “But we’ll see what we can do. For now, though, I think we ought to go to bed.”

 

Ichigo nods, pushing himself to his feet with a groan.

 

“My legs fell asleep,” he mutters at Kisuke’s quiet chuckle.

 

“If you say so, jii-san.”

 

Ichigo scoffs, half-heartedly swatting at the getaboushi’s shoulder.

 

“Shut up,” he mutters. “Zangetsu’s got a better sense of humor than you.”

 

“Aw, thanks, aibou,” the raven says, preening. “Yer so nice.”

 

Ichigo rolls his eyes and follows Kisuke out. Ossan pads after them, Benihime still draped across his back.

 

They get to Ichigo’s room, first.

 

There’s a beat of silence.

 

“I… Good night, Kisuke.”

 

The blond gives him a long, careful look, then nods. There’s acceptance in his eyes, and a touch of sorrow.

 

Ichigo hates that he’s the one that put it there.

 

He can’t take it back, though, because the next thing he knows, Kisuke’s bowing his head and stepping back.

 

“Good night, Ichigo.”

 

He slips away, back into the dark corridor, and Ichigo slides the door shut.

 

“Yer an idiot, aibou,” Zangetsu pipes up. He sounds uneasy.

 

“We’ll be fine,” Ichigo murmurs, running a finger along Zangetsu’s wing. “The nightmares gotten better.”

 

“Not that much better,” Ossan points out. “It’s easier if he’s with us. You know that.”

 

“But it’s harder, too.” 

 

The hound circles Ichigo carefully, flank pressed against his human’s legs. “You don’t have to push him away, now. We’re home. We’re safe.”

 

Ichigo’s shakes his head.

 

“We have to get used to being alone,” he says firmly. “Kisuke might leave again. He still can.”

 

“He’s like us—“

 

“He’s left me before,” Ichigo says firmly. “He wouldn’t have come for me if not for the war. He doesn’t— he cares for me, but not like… Not like that.”

 

Neither spirit answers him, and after a moment, Ichigo sighs, moving down the hall to the bedroom he’d claimed when the biggest thing to worry about was Rukia’s execution.

 

Oh, how times have changed.

  
  


*.*

  
  


It had been an accident that sent them to the other world, the one with no shinigami or hollows or anything that hints at the sort of spiritual activity they both know. It had been an  _ accident,  _ and it had changed everything.

 

Six years, they spent in that other world, their souls separate from them and so very _ delicate. _ They’d gotten used to it eventually— they had no choice— but their goal had been to return home, always. To just get _ home. _

 

Now, they are home, and everything is different.

 

It had only been six days, in Karakura, since they disappeared, and hell, was that terrifying to realize. Ichigo, who’d been eighteen on Monday, had shown up on his father’s doorstep twenty-four years old, with a dog and a bird and wet eyes. It had taken Isshin a moment to understand, since Ichigo had been buzzing his hair the past year and was still wearing the ballcap he’d taken to wearing, but eventually, he recognized him.

 

His sisters hadn’t recognized him at all.

 

So, Ichigo had done the smart thing, and after promising Karin and Yuzu he’d visit, he’d packed the things in his room that still fit (none of it. None of his clothes fit him anymore.) and asked Kisuke if he could use his old room, just for a little while.

 

It’s been six months, now, and Ichigo hasn’t figured anything else out, and Kisuke hasn’t pushed for him to leave. It’s sort of awkward, but it’s nice, too. They’ve fallen into a pattern, not unlike the one they’d had in the other world, where they fight and tease and work on highly illegal experiments in highly illegal labs in hopes of creating something useful. The only difference now is that they’re not sharing a room. Sharing a bed.

 

They’d shared a bed almost from the beginning, because it was cheaper and because Kisuke refused to let Ichigo sleep alone, not after that first night.

 

(He’d scratched himself bloody that first night, but hadn’t woken up until Kisuke heard his screams and came for him.)

 

Six months, and still, Ichigo is unused to sleeping alone. Yes, he has Ossan and Zangetsu, but it isn’t quite the same. There should be another body there, another daemon, tucked under the covers and pressed against Ichigo’s side.

 

He hasn’t been sleeping well. Kisuke isn’t either, though that may have more to do with his insomnia than anything else. He always had trouble sleeping.

 

That’s what he says when Ichigo asks, anyway.

  
  


*.*

  
  


Benihime doesn’t like to leave Kisuke much, for all that she can, and Ichigo’s daemons are the same. Yet there are more than a few nights when Ichigo wakes up and finds a mink curled up on his chest and his hound and his raven gone. Half-asleep and half-certain that this is a dream, of course it’s a dream, he’ll reach up, running his hands through her sleek, black fur.

 

In the next room, Kisuke will shiver over his notes, a a feeling so warm it aches blooming in his chest and expanding until he can’t breathe.

 

Ossan will make a small noise where he’s settled at his feet. Zangetsu will peep at him, hopping off the perch Kisuke has set up for him in the lab to land on his shoulder.

 

Every time, Kisuke wants nothing more than to card his fingers through those shiny black feathers.

 

He never does.

**Author's Note:**

> At least there's hope, right? Right?
> 
>  
> 
> As for daemon explanations:
> 
> Zangetsu the Raven: Ravens are symbols of intelligence, due to their use of natural tools. They are playful, communicative, and can sometimes be considered rather vicious when vexed. They are also symbols of prophecy and destiny, considered crafty keepers of wisdom— but in the same breath, are known to be terrible secret-keepers. They are scavengers, finding use for things thrown away by others.
> 
> Ossan the Irish Wolfhound: Once considered ‘the bane of the wolf pack', the Irish Wolfhound is described as having "great size and commanding appearance." He is the tallest of dogs, but not the heaviest. When full grown, a male Irish Wolfhound looms over other dogs, standing at least 32 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds. They are symbols of loyalty, protection, intelligence, obedience, community, resourcefulness, and communication.
> 
> Benihime the Mink: Minks are joyful, playful, and know how to balance that with fighting for a just cause. They have a keen sense of awareness, and knowledge of how to navigate through emotional waters. They aid in understanding dreams, visions, and hidden knowledge.


End file.
